Welcoat taps Belasco; TnT gets Aljamal

Welcoat continued its team rebuilding, hoping to turn its fortunes around in its second season in the pro league as it recruited reliable veteran forward Nic Belasco from Alaska Milk after picking Joe Devance and Ryan Arana from the Rookie Draft Sunday.

The Dragons, tail-enders on both the All-Filipino and Reinforced conferences last campaign, acquired the signing rights on Belasco in exchange for sophomore center-forward Junjun Cabatu. Belasco is a restricted free agent with his previous playing contract with Alaska expiring at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Meanwhile, Yousif Aljamal is headed for Talk n Text since the Piltel franchise and Air21, even before the draft, agreed on a trade deal involving the services of the San Beda do-it-all star.

Air21 selected Aljamal at No. 8 overall in Sunday’s draft. Talk n Text didn’t have a chance to tab the 6-foot-3 forward since the Phone Pals had given up their 2007 first round pick on a previous trade transaction.

Talk n Text team manager Frankie Lim, in a text message to The STAR, said they’re still working on what to offer  in exchange for their acquisition of Aljamal.

Air21 coach Bo Perasol said the team is likely to keep their three other draftees in JC Intal, Doug Kramer and Marvin Cruz.

The three and another rookie hopeful RJ Masbang join the Express as they start their training today at the Xavier Gym in San Juan.

“With the entry of Intal, Kramer and Cruz, we now have nine players in our lineup. (Injured player) Gary David is our 10th man. We’ll look for two other players from the free agent pool,” said Perasol.

Draft aspirants not picked Sunday automatically joined the free agent pool. Among noted players not drafted were guards Khiel Misa, Reed Juntilla and Wynsjohn Te.

Over at Welcoat, more trades may happen in the next few days with the team looking forward to build a competitive lineup for the coming 33rd PBA season.

“For sure, we will improve with the addition of Devance. We’ll be more competitive than last season. But we may be hard-pressed for a  championship,” said coach Leo Austria.

Welcoat co-owners Raymund Yu and Terry Que were upbeat in the composition of the team after getting Devance and Arana from the draft.

“Everybody was looking at Devance. But they seemed to overlook Arana. The guy’s a winner,” said Yu of the former La Salle mainstay.

Meanwhile, the PBA Commissioner’s Office has scheduled a pre-season tourney, also featuring a visiting team from South Korea, next month.

Alaska Milk is the defending champion in the pre-season tourney, serving as the appetizer to the coming season which opens Oct. 14 at the Araneta Coliseum.